Collingwood heartened by display

Saturday 6 January 2007 00:09 BST

England captain Paul Collingwood can envisage great things for the future despite England's two-wicket defeat to India in a run-heavy contest at the Brit Oval on Wednesday, which sent the NatWest Series to a decider at Lord's on Saturday.

Collingwood was buoyed by his team's efforts as they rallied from a position of 137 for five to post 316 for six, thanks to monumental efforts from Owais Shah, debutant Luke Wright and Dimitri Mascarenhas, who hit five consecutive sixes to finish the innings, and then again after India raced to 150 without loss.

"From a captain's point of view, when you see a team fighting like that it's a great thing for the future for us," Collingwood said after India reached their target with just two balls to spare.

"We're not going to get it right all the time, we're still saying it's early doors for this one-day side. We need to keep our heads held high, because we know we've done a lot of good things, and regroup for Saturday. It's a massive game, a big final for us."

Up until the explosion of runs - England amassed 114 from their final 10 overs - the match's biggest talking point had been Collingwood's controversial dismissal.

Initially umpire Peter Hartley declined to refer a run out appeal by the Indians and only when they celebrated after witnessing the replay on the big screen did he make contact with television umpire Ian Gould.

"It was obviously a little bit of a mistake from the umpire," said Collingwood.

"It was disappointing at the time. He didn't want to have a look at the replays; then suddenly he did after seeing it on the big screen. The good thing is I actually forgot about that incident - because it was such a good game."

Mascarenhas became only the fourth batsman in one-day international history, after Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi and Sanath Jayasuriya to hit 30 in a legitimate six-ball over. Having scuffed the first delivery from left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh to mid-on, he began a spree of sixes which began when Piyush Chawla caught him at deep midwicket but fell on the rope.

"They just hit the middle of the bat and he probably bowled them in the right areas for me, to be honest," he said. "Five is definitely the most I have hit in one over."